Posts

Everything that can be tested on a table is now tested. Bench bot is done, which means it's finally time to start on the actual sub! A few good moments. Both compasses are green (took three of them, I'd been soldering way too hot). Sixteen battery cells dropped straight into a 3D printed plate that needed actual circle-packing math to lay out. And the little safety brain now correctly floats the sub home only if both computers go quiet, not just one. Best part: Danu is on the internet. I can log into my submarine from anywhere in the world. It's in my basement sitting right next to me. But still :) #submarine #basementbuild #diy #electronics #3dprinting #fathertech #tinkering #maker #ROV #buildinpublic

Bench bot is done. Both compasses green, the deadman fires only when both computers go quiet, and Danu is on the internet. I can now SSH into my submarine from anywhere in the world. It's in my basement. But still. https://divewithdanu.com/log#entry-25

Danu just went from a box of parts to a machine with feelings 🥹 She can sense her depth, feel the water, spin her thruster, and her two brains talked for the first time. Swipe the build (and the gremlins we fought): https://divewithdanu.com/log#entry-24

Meet Danu's three brains! 🧠🧠🧠 Instead of one big computer running the whole submarine, Danu carries three little ones — and here's the fun part: they don't fully trust each other. 😄 One is the worrier, whose only job is to keep her safe and bring her home if anything goes wrong. One is the steady pilot that keeps her from tumbling. And one is the dreamer — the AI that hunts for shipwrecks. If the dreamer gets a little too excited, the other two just carry on. The rule? The simplest brain always gets the last word. Swipe through to see the trio that runs our little sub. 💙 #DiveWithDanu #Submarine #STEM #OceanExplorer #MakerLife #FatherDaughter #CuriousMinds #Robotics #ShipwreckHunter

Danu has THREE separate brains — and they don't fully trust each other. 🧠🧠🧠 The worrier keeps her safe, the pilot keeps her steady, the dreamer hunts shipwrecks. If one goes rogue, the simplest one wins. Here's why: https://divewithdanu.com/learn/system-three-brains-that-don-t-trust-each-other

Danu has feelings! 🥹 This week our little homemade submarine went from a pile of parts on a workbench to a machine that can actually sense the world around her. She now knows how deep she is, can feel the water temperature down to a tenth of a degree, and has a sensor whose only job is to yell "water where it shouldn't be — surface NOW!" Her first thruster spun to life on command (Aarushi may have cheered), and her two little brains started talking to each other for the very first time. 🧠🤝🧠 It wasn't all smooth — one sensor kept vanishing every two minutes and drove us a bit mad — but that's exactly why we test everything on a dry bench before she ever touches the lake. Swipe through to watch a box of parts wake up. Next up: teaching her to think for herself. 💙 #Danu #FatherDaughter #Submarine #STEM #MakerLife #BuildInPublic #Robotics #CuriosityWins #LakeMichigan #TinkerTime

How deep does Danu go? 300 meters. 🌊 To put that in perspective: the deepest spot in all of Lake Michigan is about 281 m — so Danu can reach the bottom anywhere in the lake, way past where scuba divers can safely swim. That's where the shipwrecks hide. Here's the honest part: a submarine is only as deep-going as its weakest piece. Some of Danu's parts could handle way more, but the shallowest one sets the limit — so 300 m it is. And before she ever dives for real, every seal and shell gets squeezed to 1.5× that pressure. If it hasn't been proven, it doesn't dive. Best bit? This same week, Danu's very first depth sensor woke up on the workbench — we pressed on it and watched the number jump. Swipe through! 🐟 #DiveWithDanu #Submarine #LakeMichigan #Shipwrecks #Underwater #STEM #MakerLife #FatherDaughter #OceanExploration #CuriosityWins

How deep does Danu go? 300 m — past the deepest point of Lake Michigan (281 m), deep enough to reach wrecks anywhere in the lake. And she's rated by her weakest part, not her toughest. 🌊 https://divewithdanu.com/log#entry-23

Danu just felt its first meter of depth — from a single breath! 🫧 Here's the magic: our little thumb-tip depth sensor can't tell the difference between your lungs and a meter of lake water sitting on top of it. Pressure is pressure. So Aarushi puts her lips on the tube, blows gently, and watches the number climb like Danu is diving. Best workbench trick yet. The compass? It fought back this week — a bargain part that ate a whole weekend. We got it talking, but "talking" isn't good enough to seal inside a hull and send into the dark. The proper board is on the way. One sense at a time, each one earned. 💙 #DanuTheSub #SubmarineBuild #FatherDaughter #STEMkids #BuildInPublic #OceanExploration #MakersGonnaMake #CuriosityWins #LakeMichigan #LearningTogether

Danu felt its first meter of depth this week — from a single breath. Blow into the sensor and the number climbs; it can't tell lungs from a meter of lake. Depth: proven. Compass: on its way. 🫧 https://divewithdanu.com/log#entry-22

Meet Danu — a homemade submarine who's being built to explore Lake Michigan's shipwrecks all by herself. 🌊 Before buying another part, we did the least flashy but most important thing: we wrote down her whole dream on paper. What she must do, how deep she'll go, and the lines she'll never cross. Her mission? Find wrecks with no pilot and no cord, film them in stunning detail, then rise to the surface to phone home before diving again. And her golden rule: look, film, never take. These wrecks are protected treasures. 💙 We turned the whole spec into a series of collectible trading cards — one a week. Card #01, 'Explore on her own,' drops today. Swipe through and collect all ten! #DiveWithDanu #Submarine #ShipwreckHunter #LakeMichigan #OceanExploration #FatherDaughter #STEM #BuiltInTheOpen #TradingCards

We wrote down Danu's entire dream — how deep, how far, and the lines she'll never cross. Then we turned it into trading cards. Card #01 'Explore on her own' drops today! 🌊 https://divewithdanu.com/log#entry-21

Danu has a heartbeat! ❤️ This weekend our little submarine got her nervous system — the part that keeps her level, holds her depth, and tells the motors what to do — and it powered itself for the very first time. Of course, nothing goes smoothly: a cable that flat-out didn't fit, and one heart-stopping moment where the computer went totally silent (spoiler: we just needed to reboot the LAPTOP 😅). But then the screen lit up — 14.95 volts, exactly what we set — and she was alive. Swipe through to see her first vitals. A brain that now has a body to feel with. 🌊 #danuthesub #homemadesubmarine #fatherdaughter #buildinpublic #STEMkids #makerlife #underwaterrobot #tinkering #firstheartbeat

Danu has a heartbeat: 14.95 volts of it ❤️ Her flight controller woke up and powered itself for the first time — after a cable that didn't fit and one heart-stopping silent-computer moment (the fix? reboot the laptop 😅). https://divewithdanu.com/log#entry-20

Danu got her BRAIN this weekend! 🧠 It's the little board with the big fan you'll spot in the photos — the part that will one day look through her cameras and decide "that's a shipwreck, not a rock" and know when it's time to turn for home. Of course, it fought us first. The fancy new USB drive we tried? The brain refused to even acknowledge it existed. Twenty minutes of "did we break it?!" later, we dug out an ancient little thumb drive... and it worked instantly. 😅 We promised to show the faceplants, not just the wins. This one's filed under: sometimes the fix is just "use the other one." Onward! 🐙 #DanuTheSub #Submarine #FatherDaughter #BuildInPublic #STEM #MakerLife #Robotics #LearningTogether #Wonder

Meet Danu 🌊 A father–daughter project: we're building a homemade autonomous submarine to explore Lake Michigan's shipwrecks — and one day, the oceans. We're on day one: parts on the bench, powering up for the first time, documenting every win and every flood in the open. Follow along → divewithdanu.com

Danu got her brain this weekend! 🧠 A few hours of "who's in charge here?"... then a surprise plot twist involving two USB drives. She's online. Full story: https://divewithdanu.com/log#entry-18

Test Post - testing the post